Butterfingers

Very pleased with his pre-season progress and performance yesterday.I'm not Bennets biggest critic but like most,I felt this was a position that could be improved upon. For some reason,his goal yesterday reminds me of Stauntons at Sheffield Wednesday in Big Rons first game in charge.I can't really recall the goal but have a picture in my head of us breaking on the counter attack & Staunton smashing home.If Tony goes on to play as well as Stauton did for us,I won't be too upset.

Great post-I think you've covered them all there. My first "opening day" game was the Plymouth 3-1.I watched it from the newly installed blue seats in the Trinity enclosure,I wonder if the game would have gone ahead these days? Pat McMahon also broke his leg in that game. I went to Preston the following year where we had a large following (as was the norm then) & won 2-0 I went to York a few years later (my first away game on a football special) and my abiding memory is the shock & excitement at seeing so many Villa fans on the concourse before getting the train.Not sure if this is the season that we got promoted or the season before. Leeds was a disapointment,first game back in division 1.I remember going to Bristol City,traveling overnight on the train when I was about 18 & had started drinking about 1977/78. The best one for me was the Sheffield Wednesday game & only Tranmere in the semi final surpasses it The 3-1 Man U is also a fond memory. One game I wasn't present at was the opening of Arsenals new ground,where we got a respectable 1-1 draw.A repeat in 2 weeks would be greatly accepted.

I think sometimes you have to draw a line on players-I don't think we've reached that point with Bennett yet but on the other hand,left back is a priority position that we need to improve on from last season. For me the ideal scenario is for Bennett to become a squad player and placing the ball firmly in his court in terms of seizing a first team opportunity when one comes his way.

Not sure why its such a problem,him playing? He's only been off about 2 & a half weeks

I don't see why they'd do that now, but not last season. He wasn't exactly an unknown quantity after January i thought to an extent they did, if you look at gabby and andi's end to the season it wasnt the only reason for their pick up in form but it was certainly a part of it IMO not only do the opposition play with benteke in mind it also takes pressure off them 2 For me,the beauty of the 3 is that 2 can have an off day & the 3rd will pop up & deliver-They're all dangerous in their own right.

I don't see why they'd do that now, but not last season. He wasn't exactly an unknown quantity after January if that does happen I hope Benteke is not as headless as when that happened to Young Was about to mention Young-This is the type of position that defenders usually double up on,not the front man.I thought Young handled it well TBH.Doubling up is usually designed to force the player wide instead of cutting in & not really appropriate for Benteke.I thought Norwich did very well with him with Bassong man marking him & matching his strength.Man marking is the best you can do against Benteke-he is far from a one trick pony.

Top 6 is probably a tad optimistic next season.I am accepting that one of the big clubs WILL be in for him in 12 months time.Once this happens,we won't hold onto him-As seen with Yorke,Barry,Milner & Young.

He will not be a one-season wonder & even if he has a poor season,he will still command a move if heshines in the WC To suggest he is not motivated by money is a tad romantic but a bigger club usually go hand in hand with more money For us to keep him,he needs a poor WC & a poor season & this jut won't happen. What Benteke really needs to improve on is converting the bread & butter chances-It was a problem that Genk fans highlighted & its a problem that remained last year. In the dark days of last winter,I promised myself that if Benteke (or anyone else) could perform well enough to keep us up then that was more important than whet happened transfer-wise in the summer.As it transpires,we've got another season with him so no complaints from me.Just regret really that he won't be around if & when we're competing fo top 6 again

This is what I'm thinking-It would help keep the spotlight off him as well meaning a chance of holding on to him again in 12 months time. I reckon we should take the pens off him as well just to keep his goal tally down

He's clearly identified his targets & got them in early.He was quoted as saying if someone was of interest,he'd speak with Lerner & Falkner recently. I reckon one more & it could even be a bigger fee-The reason behind my (total guesswork) is that he's waiting to offload-The ones signed already haven't cost the earth & Dunne & Holmans wages will probably cover the lot. Its interesting that its been fairly quiet in the market given this highly talked about influx of TV money.A lot could rest on the Rooney-Ronaldo speculation & if one of those goes through,Spurs will have problems keeping hold of Bale

If you took time to actually read my post properly,you would see that I said that the Sylla song was great.

it reads like a load of crap as well but its still nice to read after a week or so of smugness from a lot of their fans over Benteke.

Well... it weren't so obvious when you wrote Athletico ;-) It should have been to anyone with half a brain-Theres probably only 3 or 4 teams in the world capable of signing Bale & unfortunately for them,the Birmingham City of Madrid are not one of them.

Appologies-Obviously I meant Real not Athletico.Not the best of sources but it bought a smile to my face anyway http://trollfootball.lockerdome.com/articles/108579443

I disagree-N'Zog was playing in that position when we began to turn the corner.I do think that the way we play requires someone solid like Sylla in there though. As for the song-The Sylla one is great but in general,its a song sung by this new craze "ultra" type of people & I can't get my head around it all tbh-Celtic,St Pauli,Brigada 1874? whats the connection? It seems a bit political to me. I think you're reading way too much into it. The original appears to have no political connotation whatsoever. Brigada 1874 are a bunch of raving far lefties who should leave their politics away from Villa Park-Their connections with Celtic is not something to shout from the rooftops about either-Especially in light of the despicable acts and songs that were sung at Brentford yesterday.So no-I am not reading too much into it but accept that this is not the thread to argue in. I'm just not sure where this particular song comes into any of that. For me personally,I don't like to hear Villa fans singing Celtic/St Pauli shit.We have our own identity & I don't like people trying to associate us with those clubs. Likewise I didn't like all the "we don't care about Wigan" stuff on the last day as this is a Blues song That's just how I am.

Rumours coming from Punto Pelota,a Spanish football TV programme that Athletico have lodged an 80e million (£68k) bid for Bale If true,its not turning out to be the best of summers for Spurs

I disagree-N'Zog was playing in that position when we began to turn the corner.I do think that the way we play requires someone solid like Sylla in there though. As for the song-The Sylla one is great but in general,its a song sung by this new craze "ultra" type of people & I can't get my head around it all tbh-Celtic,St Pauli,Brigada 1874? whats the connection? It seems a bit political to me. I think you're reading way too much into it. The original appears to have no political connotation whatsoever. Brigada 1874 are a bunch of raving far lefties who should leave their politics away from Villa Park-Their connections with Celtic is not something to shout from the rooftops about either-Especially in light of the despicable acts and songs that were sung at Brentford yesterday.So no-I am not reading too much into it but accept that this is not the thread to argue in.

I disagree-N'Zog was playing in that position when we began to turn the corner.I do think that the way we play requires someone solid like Sylla in there though. As for the song-The Sylla one is great but in general,its a song sung by this new craze "ultra" type of people & I can't get my head around it all tbh-Celtic,St Pauli,Brigada 1874? whats the connection? It seems a bit political to me.

I agree. As a consequence,I think we will still ship soft goals next season. The positive is that the defence has had a years experience behind it,has a better more stable midfield in front of it (compared to who played there during the nightmare run through December) & we've added 2 players who are hopefully going to be an improvement on last year.A big responsibility rests with Vlarr and he needs to have learnt from his mistakes of last year.

These views echo my own 100% The only thing I'd add is that Lambert seems intent on building a young side & consequently continues to sign young players. I obviously support Lambert in whatever decision he makes but would just ask if these lads would benefit from a couple of old experienced heads? -Certainly in the centre of defence & possibly in midfield.

At least

Although Clark was to blame for the marking for the second goal & thankfully won't be featuring much,I think we are still going to concede a few bad goals from set pieces.A lot will depend on how much Vlarr improves in this area but I'm expecting JO to take a bit of time to bed in-That said,he will make up for it straight away in other areas of his play (strength & pace)

I don't know why people keep using this example. It's precisely because of the Andy Carroll to Liverpool deal that clubs are shying away from overpaying for a young guy who's only had one good season. Nobody wants to buy the next Carroll. (I am in NO WAY saying that Benteke is "the next Carroll." I'm only pointing out why a club like Spurs would be reluctant to break their transfer record for the second time in a couple of weeks, for a guy who's only had one season in the Premier League. I actually think Benteke would have been a beast for Spurs, so I'm delighted we get to keep him. I'm glad we're not playing against him next season.) Yeah but Andy Carroll didnt even have 1 season in the premier league under his belt he basically just hit some form for half a season. So yeah dont compare Benteke to him as at least Benteke done it for a full season bar a couple games at the start of the season The Carroll argument is irrelevant as Liverpool had just received £50million for Torres.If Spurs had received similar for Bale,I'm convinced they would have met our asking price. Likewise-I doubt we'd ever had bought Bent if Man City hadn't paid so much for Milner.

None of us will ever know the full ins & outs of this saga however it was fun speculating & had a happy ending-Its not often a player hands in a transfer request like this and then doesn't move. I'd like to think that Bentekes agent over estimated Spurs determination to sign him-If the shoe was on the other foot,I think most of us would want Villa to break the bank in one final push for CL qualification. One thing that I think most will agree on is that Villa did hold all the aces & did exactly what they said they would when the story first broke.I've been a critic of Lerners over the past couple of years but I'm grateful that he backed his manager on this.The sale could make the difference between Lerner chucking a few million into the club or it being self funding this season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMqldhpm0JQ